


The Transience of Fear

by I_Am_Your_Dentist



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Role Reversal, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-26
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 17:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/942450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_Your_Dentist/pseuds/I_Am_Your_Dentist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A role-reversal fic where Pitch is the new Guardian, and Jack is the threat that they must fight against.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Transience of Fear

“...Pitch Black.”

Bunnymund’s ears twitched in alarm at the name - the name he hadn’t heard in so long and wished never to again. Not him. Anyone but him. “No...” His eyes narrowed. “Manny can’t choose him. Pick anotha’ one!” His paws balled into fists; the mere thought of sharing Guardianship with that...thing made his blood boil. Pitch was no Guardian. Pitch was nothing but a shell of darkness.

“It’s not our choice to make.” Tooth hovered near him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. She wasn’t thrilled with the situation either, but if he had been chosen, there was little they could do about it. “I know, he’s not the ideal Guardian...”

“Not the ideal?! He’s the exact opposite of what a Guardian should be!” He pushed away Tooth’s hand, glaring at the glowing crystal which held the boogeyman’s visage. Just the mere sight of it made his paws shake with rage. He looked so...smug. Just like that day. “North, we don’t have to do this! We can handle Frost on our own!”

“Is like Tooth said - not our decision.” North shrugged, though he looked troubled. He knew about all the trouble that the Nightmare King had caused in the world. He certainly wasn’t the person he himself would have chosen. He spread fear and chaos, corrupted innocence, destroyed everything they tried to protect. But... “Manny is our leader. If he says Pitch is to be Guardian, then he is to be Guardian.”

Bunnymund growled, his ears pinned back along his head. “Well, make him choose someone else! Anyone else!”

“Bunny!” Tooth’s nails bit into his shoulder as she hovered over him, the wind from her wings causing his fur to ruffle. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sandy gathering dreamsand in his tiny hand. It was then he realized how heavily his breathing was, how his lips were pulled back in a snarl, baring his pronounced teeth. He grunted to himself, his shoulders slumping as the anger drained from him.

“No need for that, mate,” he muttered, glancing at his tiny golden friend. “Put that away. Won’t be needing it.”

“Well, that is relief.” North crossed his large arms over his barrel-like chest, staring down at Bunnymund critically. “Because you will be going out to fetch him.”

“Not a chance,” he said flatly. “After what that...after what he did, I never want to see him again, let alone be the welcoming committee. Get Sandy to do it.”

“You are one who knows him best,” North said, his eyebrows raising. “You are one who could convince him to join us.”

“No, I’m the one who’ll throw him to the ground and strangle him if I ever get my paws on him again!” He was shaking now, just the thought of that man making his stomach turn. “You know what he did, North!”

North’s gaze shifted. The air was thick with tension, the other three glancing away as Bunnymund’s anger grew. “I am sorry, Bunny.”

Bunnymund snorted in anger, taking a few deep breaths. His mind was racing. How could they do this to him? They were supposed to be his friends, and they knew...they KNEW what he had done. He stepped away from them to pace, agitated, tearing at tufts of fur on his arms. It felt like there was a vice around his heart, burning it up from the inside.

“Fine,” he ground out after several minutes, turning to the other Guardians waiting patiently. “But if we do this, we do this my way.”

\--

There was something so special about spreading fear, Pitch thought as he crept into the child’s room. The feel of breathless terror, the screams and cries, the begging for their parents to come, come save them from the boogeyman!

But they never could.

No, for adults could not see him, though he stood in plain sight.

His victim of the night was a young boy of seven years old, laying in his bed half-asleep, his breathing hitched slightly as he fought to stay awake. Well, he wouldn’t have to worry about that. Pitch smirked, intentionally bumping into a chair, causing it to rock in the dark room.

The boy flinched awake, sitting up and staring at the chair with wide eyes. He had a nightlight along the far wall, and Pitch gleefully passed in front of it, blocking out the light. The child gasped and hid underneath his blanket, a small bump under the covers as he began to whimper and cry.

“Oh, my, do you really think that will protect you?” he drawled, stepping closer, his footsteps echoing on the floorboards, for only the child to hear. His whimpers turned into full-on wailing sobs, so loud that the light flicked on, and a woman with disheveled black hair came into the room.

“What’s wrong, Ralphy?” she asked, pulling the blanket back and gathering her young son into her arms.

“Mommy, Mommy, the boogeyman is here!” Big, wet tears slipped down the little boy’s cheeks as his mother attempted to soothe him. Pitch smirked over her head at him, laughing outright as she checked under the bed. Like a good, indulgent mother did when her child was upset.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find nothing under there, Mommy dearest,” Pitch sing-songed, positively gleeful. He couldn’t wait for this woman to leave, to ignore her sons pleas and cries. So many of them did; when they couldn’t find a solution, they wrote him off as a bad dream, and left their child to his mercy.

“There’s nothing here, Ralphy.” The child clung to her and she sighed with a tired smile. “Why don’t I sing you a lullaby, hm? Would you like that?” He nodded his small blond head, crawling into her lap as her arms wrapped around him tightly. Her voice was like honey as she sang softly, so sweet and beautiful Pitch couldn’t help but stay and listen. He felt a lonely pang in his own heart as she tucked the now-sleeping boy into bed, glancing up in time for the woman to walk right through him on her way out of the room.

Pitch doubled over with a slight huff. It wasn’t quite painful, but it was...disturbing. It gave him a feeling of not being there at all, like he was truly invisible, and not just in the human world.

His fingers curled around the collar of his robe, pressed against his chest as he slowly straightened. This boy was asleep now, and he couldn’t touch him. In fact...

Pitch flinched as Sandy’s golden dreamsand began to filter into the room, avoiding it as best he could and sinking into the shadows to disappear outside. They always ruined his fun; his good mood from earlier was completely gone. He sighed, crossing his arms moodily as he began to walk down the street. The half-hearted thought of finding a new victim for the night entered his mind, but the sight of those tendrils of dreamsand discouraged that greatly. They’d all be fast asleep by now, lost in dreamland without a thing he could do about it. His night was over. He supposed he would just go back to his lair.

His boots clicked on the ground, muffled by the thin layer of cold as he stared up at the slowly falling flakes that had begun to fall from the sky. It was a bit late in the year for snow, wasn’t it? In just a few days time it would be Easter; it shouldn’t be snowing.

Pitch’s mouth formed into a grim line, shaking away the half-formed thoughts. He usually hid away when Easter came around, so he wouldn’t have to face that damned rabbit. They hadn’t had an encounter yet where they hadn’t fought.

He heard a rustling from a nearby alleyway that made him pause, a flash of shadow and a familiar silhouette making a cold pit form in his stomach. No, it couldn’t be...he’d just been thinking about him, and now the rabbit was here?!

“Been a long time, mate.”

Pitch took an instinctive step back as Bunnymund stepped forward, into the light of the street lamp. His expression was positively murderous, and not for the first time, he felt a thrill of fear go through him at the sight of the pooka.

“I...I haven’t done anything,” he insisted, immediately on the defensive. “You’ve no reason to attack me.” But that wasn’t true...no, it wasn’t true at all. “I’ve done what you asked...I’ve stayed away from you, now leave me be.”

Bunnymund shook his head. “This isn’t about that.” He fixed Pitch with a cool gaze, his bright green eyes flashing in the dim light of the street lamp. “This is about the Guardians...Kozmotis.”

“Don’t call me that!” Pitch instinctively hissed, wincing at the sound of that accursed name. “That is the name of a dead man!”

“Right...” Bunnymund’s eyes narrowed as he reached for his boomerangs. “A dead man...because you’re not him anymore, are you?” His teeth bared for a moment, and Pitch felt a thrill of fear go through him. He might be able to fight Bunnymund, but to what end? To be on the run again? To one of their deaths? He’d never be left in peace, would he? He took a step back, intending to disappear into the shadows at his feet if the rabbit tried anything.

Suddenly, he felt himself being yanked by the back of his robe, barely able to react as he was thrown into a cloth sack, the drawstring pulled tight to block out the light and Bunnymund’s form stepping close. He could barely make out the sound of garbled speech, the yetis’ native tongue as they hauled him up through the air, then tossed him like a sack of potatoes. He landed heavily with a grunt, his head spinning as more voices made themselves heard.

He forced open the mouth of the sack, reducing himself to shadow as he raced out of the small opening. He darted about like a caged animal, his wispy form dwindling as he fought for an escape. But there was nowhere to go, no shadow to escape into, so he settled on the farthest point away from his captives: North’s globe.

“What do you want?” he ground out, positively furious. How dare they treat him this way? A feeling of pride went through him at the way they seemed on edge, their guards clearly up as they regarded the Nightmare King above them. Yes, even all these years later, they still regarded him as a threat. And yet they had the audacity to slight the King of Nightmares?

It was North who stepped forward, their unofficial leader looking every bit the part. Were they on the same level, the large Russian man would have towered over him, but as it was, he had to crane his neck back to stare up at Pitch’s form high above. Good. He wasn’t going to make this any easier for them.

“It is good to see you again, old friend!” he boomed with a smile. His eyes darted around nervously, and the smile didn’t reach his eyes. A charade, then. It seems they weren’t ready to tell him the real reason he was here.

“I don’t recall us being friends,” Pitch growled, his eyes narrowed. “In fact, I remember our last encounter being quite unpleasant. If you’re going to kill me, I’m afraid you’re going to be very disappointed; I don’t die easily, and I’ll be sure to take one or two of you with me.”

“No, no, no, is not murder attempt!” North shook his head. “I know we have had our differences in the past, but now we are wiping clean the slate! Starting fresh!”

Pitch frowned, but remained on his perch. Why the Guardians of all people would want to wipe anything away when it came to him was beyond his understanding. “I’ll give you one last chance to explain yourselves before my fearlings swarm the place.”

The Guardians blanched at that, which made Pitch smirk. It was a bluff of course, since his fearlings had never successfully penetrated the Pole, but they didn’t seem to know that.

“Okay, okay!” North put his hands up placatingly. “See, thing is...a new Guardian was chosen, by Man in Moon. And you...you are it.”

Pitch stared down at them blankly before his attention turned to the open skylight, where the moon was shining in silently, as if waiting for his answer. “Chosen? By that...blowhard?” He couldn’t help a laugh at that, sliding down the globe to stand before the Guardians. He grinned as they skittered backwards, Bunnymund even reaching for his boomerangs when he got too close. “Somehow, I doubt he’d want his parents’ murderer working for him, and frankly I’m not interested in the job.” His arms clasped behind his back, he began to walk toward the exit. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I trust you will pass the message on to Lunar.”

A rough, furry hand clamped down on his shoulder and he growled. “Let go, rabbit.”

“No.” Bunnymund’s claws dug into his shoulder. “Don’t know why the Man in the Moon would bother picking someone like you to help us, but he did, and you ain’t goin’ anywhere.”

Pitch turned to fix the pooka with a murderous gaze. “You want me to stay, rabbit? Make. Me.” Their faces were mere inches apart, close enough for Bunnymund’s whiskers to tickle his chin. Close enough to see the little bits of gold in his green eyes. Close enough to remember a happier time.

Pitch broke the gaze first, hating himself for backing down, but feeling the pain of old memories surfacing was something he was not willing to face. He glared one last time, then turned to walk away.

Suddenly, a mini fairy bombarded him, squeaking urgently as he frantically ducked to get away from it.

“Baby Tooth!” Toothiana let the little fairy rest on her open palms as it panted, exhausted, its little squeaks growing more insistent. “The Tooth Palace? Wha...something’s wrong?” She glanced up at North, who grabbed his broadswords.

“We finish this later! Bunny, Sandy, grab him!”

Pitch blinked in surprise as he was flanked, and yanked along after Tooth and North. “Wait a minute...let go!” He tried to struggle, but Sandy’s tiny fist came down on the top of his head. The last thing he saw before passing out was a small golden butterfly floating before his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of thanks to my beta! Check out her Tumblr: aghostnotaguardian.tumblr.com


End file.
